The Extraordinary Lives of Four Witches
by Oliviatheolive
Summary: He wasn't ugly. He was just Frank, the semi-adorable guy that lived across the hill from her. He was too nice and too sweet when all Alice wanted was something exciting and spontaneous. In his navy blue shirt, green plaid pants, brown belt, predictable visits to the shop and sometimes her house, he was ordinary when all she wanted to be was extraordinary!
1. Chapter 1: Alice

I've always wanted to know more about the life of Alice and Frank Longbottom but I've had a hard time finding fanfics about their lives during their early years at Hogwarts. So here is my attempt to tell their story and a few other wizard folks stories as well. Warning! This story doesn't only focus on Alice Fortescue. There will be specific chapters with her friend POV's as well.

 **I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters except the non-canon ones. Everything else belongs to J.K Rowling. _Enjoy!_**

Chapter 1

On a hot Wednesday afternoon Alice hears the chime on the front entrance door signaling a new arrival. She tucks the thin bookmark in between the pages of a muggle book that she found in a flea market with Gwendalyn Perkins and Dorcas Meadowes. A book that she was currently struggling to finish whilst her friends moved on to other books on their self-made summer reading list. Alice was still bumming around on page 83. She just couldn't get into the style of it…

"Just a moment," She called out to the stranger as she retightened her apron and then shuffled out to the front to help the waiting customer.

Upon entering, the first thing she noticed was the brown bowl cut hairstyle and knew instantly that it belonged to none other than Frank Longbottom.

"Frank! What a surprise!" She said in dull voice. It wasn't a surprise. Frank made it his mission to come to the shop at least 3 or 4 times a week since school let out. For this reason alone was why she tried to make her schedule as random as possible. To avoid meetings like this. On a good week Alice saw him once or twice.

She knew exactly what he was doing. Always showing up to the shop when she was working, buttering her up with sweet smiles and compliments. He saw her more often than Fabian Prewitt and her best friend Valerie Vance saw each other and they had been dating for months now. And frankly, that scared her. She knew what Frank was doing because she read all about 'the signs' in Wandgirl. She still had the article tossed somewhere in her room. Now she wished she would've brought it to work because for the life of her she couldn't remember how the magazine said she should respond when only wanting a friendship. For an odd moment she wondered if Frank had read it too. It did have a section on how to pursue a love interest.

"Alice..I-I was hoping you would be here." Frank blushed deeply before amending his previous statement, "I me-a-an…because you've always given me tons of samples." He said in a rush, stumbling over words.

It wasn't that Frank was ugly. He wasn't anything to sweat about or the most handsome guy she ever met. He was just Frank, the semi-adorable guy that lived across the hill from her. It was something in his personality that turned her off. She treated Frank the same way she treated her close friend Scott Diggory. Scott was attractive but he just wasn't for her. He was too nice, too sweet and too thoughtful. Alice wanted something exciting and spontaneous. Frank was anything but that. In his light blue shirt, green plaid pants, brown belt, predictable visits to the shop and sometimes her house. He was everything she didn't want. He was ordinary when all she wanted to be was extraordinary.

But today was a bit different than usual. Later on when she saw her friends during the weekend, she would tell them that the only reason she agreed to have ice cream with the guy was because he offered to pay for the largest dish for them to share, with a flavor that he didn't like very much. Plus it was always so boring and slow in the shop when she worked in the evenings.

If she was honest with herself she would admit that Frank was nice, attractive and available _and_ maybe she was a tab bit jealous of Valérie's far out boyfriend. Val always had a steady or someone in love with her.

That's how Alice Fortescue found herself sharing a large dish of strawberry ice cream with Frank Longbottom one evening, talking about their future and friends.

"I'm thinking about becoming an Auror, you know, like my grandfather." It took everything in Alice's power not to spit out her ice cream. Frank as an _Auror_ was almost laughable if it wasn't so sad. He was clearly the softest and nicest boy she knew. Definitely wasn't cut out to be an Auror, especially during times like these when they were on the brink of declaring war.

Alice once fancied the idea of being an Auror. She liked the idea of protecting others who couldn't, being the hero and making the world a better place. But her grade in Defense was barely an 'Acceptable'. She didn't have the energy or the ambition to improve it. Plus who needed Defense anyways when you had the Magical Law Enforcement to save you?

"Hmm." She mumbled around her spoon. Frank looked at her imploringly, waiting for her to comment. She didn't want to hurt his feelings so she added, "I always thought you would want to be a Quidditch player like every other person on their house team." Before scooping up the last bit of ice cream.

Frank made this odd sound as though he was gasping for air. For a brief moment Alice wondered if he was joking, but what if this was a life or death situation and he was literally choking in front of her. She wondered if she should help him but she had no idea how to help Frank without magic. He began to loudly bang his fist against the table, most likely trying to get her attention so that she could save his life. Maybe this was one of those times that qualified as life threatening _enough_ to use magic? She thought. But the real question that kept circling around in her head was to risk it or not to risk it? But then all thoughts of helping Frank evaporated from her mind when his head came up and she noticed his huge smile. Only Frank would have a laugh that sounded as though he was choking...

So being an Auror was definitely off the list for Alice.

Anyways.

He continued on like nothing had even happened, like Alice hadn't been contemplating saving his life. "I'm not nearly that good of a Quidditch player where I would consider going pro." The funny thing was that he was right. Frank Longbottom wasn't a good Quidditch player, at times she didn't understand how he even managed to get on the team in the first place. He wasn't terrible but he wasn't good either.

"And what about you? What do you want to do?"

She shrugged. "Me? The hell if I know. I barely know what I'm going to do this evening." She laughed uncomfortably.

When Alice failed to elaborate Frank swooped in to make her 'feel better' about her indecision or thoughtlessness. Alice rolled her eyes. She didn't need anyone to make her feel better and especially not Frank Longbottom. "I know. How are you supposed to know at 14 what you want to do for the rest of your life? That's a lot of responsibility." He gave Alice a smile before continuing on with his pep talk. "Maybe I'm a little more prepared because I've always known that I wanted to be an Auror. Or maybe because it's OWL year for me and I need to have some semblance of a path I'm heading down, you know?"

She nodded but what she wanted to say was 'no.' Frank had gotten it wrong. It wasn't that she hadn't thought about her future. What school age child hadn't made unrealistic plans for their adult lives? But how do you even begin to tell someone that you want to live life like a bohemian. The only reason Alice continued reading the book with an unclear plot is because she envied the characters' lives. On more than one occasion Gwen and Alice had discussed the idea of traveling around in a station wagon making their way around the country. Maybe crossing the pond and traveling around and living wild and free while Gwen wrote about their adventures. When they asked their other friends if they wanted to come along, they had laughed at them and changed the subject. But to Alice it was a lot more appealing than getting a job in the Ministry and settling down with someone ordinary.

"So how's your friends? How's Val doing?" Why was it that when asked about her friend's people usually only wanted to know about Val?

"They're solid." Alice said while gathering their bowl and silverware. "Val's in France." She took the bowl and spoons behind the counter and put them in a bin. She could hear Frank's footsteps behind her and then veering off towards the trash can to throw away their napkins and paper place mats.

"Oh! I didn't know she was traveling this summer. That must be why she hasn't been responding to her letters."

If she was asked later on about the burning sensation in her gut at Frank's words, she would say that it must have been from all the ice cream she ate that day. She would fervently deny that her body's reaction was in any way connected to the thought of Frank sending letters to Val. Nope, not at all. But it did make her think. Alice couldn't remember Val stating in her letters about her conversing with him and for some reason this made Alice see green.

"She didn't go traveling." She blurted out, "She's in Charmed School taking a remedial course for the class she failed." As soon as the words left her mouth she regretted them. She knew that Val wouldn't want anyone to know that her parents had made her take a remedial course during the summer. But she hated the thought of someone else falling for Valérie and stealing the only guy that really liked her away.

He was quiet for a moment before replying, "What a drag."

"Yeah." She agreed and then added, "Don't tell anyone."

"Of course not." He said smiling sweetly at her before tucking his hands in his trouser pockets and looking towards the ground. "My friend has been sending mail to her for a month or so but she hasn't been answering." Her stomach unclenched a bit at hearing of his friend. She had some inkling of who he was speaking of.

"Lovegood?"

He smiled but didn't confirm or deny anything. Of course, because he was a good friend while Alice was a sucky one. She understood it. The comparison was loud and clear.

She smirked at his non-admittance of Lovegood sending letters to Val instead of Frank. "Any decent owl would have been able to find Val in France." What she really wanted to tell him was that Val probably threw Lovegood's letters away. Val couldn't stand the guy.

"The thing is he doesn't use Owls. He calls it animal cruelty or some funk."

Alice snorted, "Merlin! He's such a ditz."

"He isn't so bad when you get to know him. Anyways he's been sending her mail through the fire."

"You mean to tell me that she's going to have a stack of mail in her parents manor when she comes home Friday?"

"Yeah something like that." He said with a lopsided grin. Alice smiled back at him. She glanced up at the clock above the door and saw that it was already 7pm. If she didn't leave now her parents would go ape.

"Well I guess I should head home. It's getting late and my parents tend to worry if I'm not home by a certain time when I'm closing up." She explained.

He nodded and grinned. "Oh yeah, of course….well…it's been a blast. I'm really happy that I came. I wasn't planning to at first but then I thought what the hell." In a way she was happy that he had shown up too. If he hadn't, she would have been forced to continue reading that plotless book or try every flavor in the shop _again_ for fun.

When Frank didn't make a move to leave Alice began to pick up on his nervous behavior. She noticed how his hand came up to scratch the back of his neck while his eyes darted around anxiously. For the first time Alice really looked at him. She noted how tall he was compared to her and lean. She remembered the chubby baby face he had last Christmas which he obviously outgrown. His face was now angular with his almost too far spaced out brown eyes and neat brown hair. He was far from ugly that's for sure…

Frank cleared his throat. Alice must have been staring at him too long. Her face began to heat up in embarrassment and her fingers danced around nervously at the hem of her apron. Now it was Frank's turn to stare and she hated it. It felt like every single one of her flaws were out on display for him to see, though she would swear that she didn't like him. She hated the thought of her imperfections turning him off and deciding that she was just too ugly for him to fancy.

But of course that didn't happen at all. This was Frank and he probably believed in inner beauty or some jazz like that. Instead he said to her, "So I was thinking maybe we could do this again soon, you know? Get ice cream together or go out to dinner, if you wanted?"

Now it was her turn to choke. _Merlin,_ she wished she would have brought that damn magazine.

 **Thank you for taking the time to read this! I hope to have another chapter up soon! On** **e day an idea came to me for this story and I just needed to write it down. Though I love the idea of this story, I've been in a bit of a funk when it comes to actually writing it. So I hope posting it on here will push me to write more or get the creative juices pouring... Umm I don't have a beta. So if there were any mistakes, please point them out and I will try to fix them immediately. If you are interested in being a beta for this story please message me. Thanks lots!**


	2. Chapter 2: Alice

Chapter 2

 **I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters except for the non-canon ones. Everything else belongs to J.K Rowling. _Enjoy!_**

When Alice arrived home that night, she ran straight upstairs to her room and slammed the door. Perhaps she was being a tad bit melodramatic but today Alice couldn't be bothered with any of it. Frank Longbottom had asked her out and that deserved some type of freak out, didn't it? For the past several weeks Alice had an inkling that her slightly stalkerish neighbor might have feelings for her but she'd never considered the possibility of the bashful Gryffindor gaining the courage to ask her out on a date, like a real date? With a 5th year boy? It's was all so weird and bizarre to even consider.

Alice collapses on her bright green bed and stares up at the ceiling hopelessly. A budding look of horror begins to expand across her face as she remembers everything that came after Longbottom asking her out. Alice recalls with great detail the way his face crumpled up in disappointment when she hesitated and then flushed with embarrassment as she laughed. She had seen with her own two eyes the moment he decided to flee the scene and booked it.

He didn't even pay for their ice-cream.

Merlin, what kind of person is she? Apparently she's one of those weird 6th year girls who laugh at nice, bland and innocent guys like Frank who ask girls like Alice out, who are clearly out of his league. Even though Alice knows that she's too cool for Frank, she still feels guilty for how she behaved. Mainly she just wishes that she wouldn't have lost it in front of a guy like Frank. She should've responded back to him in a calm, mature and collected way, sort of like Val did with Lovegood, Diggory, Stump and Truman. Val always had some ready-made response that made her seem much older, mature and elegant. Obviously, Alice should've started practicing how to accept and reject guys as soon as she turned 14, now because of her laziness or thoughtless she would be lucky to see Frank at all this summer.

Her father calls her down for diner but Alice ignores him. She doesn't deserve dinner nor does she deserve to be around decent people. The kind who know how to give normal and polite responses after being asked out, _sans_ laughing.

Right about now, what Alice really wants is to firecall her friends. It would be a bit difficult to call them since the only fireplace in the house that's connected to the floo line is in the living room which is directly across from the dining room. The last thing she needs in her life is for her parents to find out about this situation. So instead she reaches over to her night stand and turns her small lavender colored magical radio on as laud as it can go and tries to drowns out her parent's voices and the thoughts in her head.

She falls asleep a little while later to Frank's mortified face. Merlin, she's horrible.

******************************************************************************"I still can't believe he asked you out!" This was the third time the raven haired witch had said this in the past 20 minutes and each time Alice became more and more offended. She was regretting telling either of her friends about her evening with Frank. Both of them were proving to be useless.

"I mean, _really_?" Lori continued in that annoyingly high pitched nasally voice that made Alice want to throw her cat on her, "out of all the girls in his class, no! Out of all the girls in the school he picks you. He likes _you_!"

That Saturday night, Lori, Alice and Gwen found themselves hanging out in Ruckus, a muggle diner located several kilometers from the Alley. Alice's audience of two, if you didn't count the old lady eavesdropping from the bar seats, were drinking milkshakes and had just finished listening to her recount her dreadful evening with Frank. They'd tried to have this talk earlier this morning but nothing had gone as planned. Lori and Gwen came to the parlor under the guise of helping Alice and her father set up. Normally the flimsy lie would have worked on her father who was completely gullible but her mother had been there, seen through them all and knew that working was the last thing on either of their minds.

Perhaps the lie could have worked if the witches had been dressed to actually _do_ work. Gwen wore pretty orange and white summer robes that came to her knees with creamy ankle socks and funky colored oxford pumps. The whole outfit screamed expensive and not appropriate to work around food in. Lori was wearing a long sleeved pink dress with white cuff links, knitted knee high socks with black Mary Jane's. They were at the very least dressed to go shopping. So instead her mother had supervised them for an hour before her friends grew tired then bored and then just left.

Now at Ruckus things weren't going much better. Alice expected some form of sympathy from her friends and perhaps a little light joking on Frank's expense. She hadn't expected Lori, normally kind and compassionate, to spend the night insulting her or her best friend to pay more attention to the lousy letter she was writing rather than Alice and her feelings. Couldn't she finish that at home? Who can be bothered with writing a letter when you friend is literally pouring her heart and soul out? She wanted comfort and she wasn't getting it. If she had known that this was how her Saturday evening would turn out for her, she would have taken her time getting to the diner. She would have went home and changed out of the dingy dress that her mother had made for her 11th birthday, which at the age of 14 was dull and noticeably shorter. Too short. She would have worn the new forest green dress with the million pockets on it that she had made with her mother a couple weeks ago with her shiny yellow slip on's. She would've been the pretty one today and not the ugly duckling amongst her friends.

"Why do you even care?" Alice asked defensively, "you don't even like him."

Lori rolled her pretty blue eyes in exasperation and tapped her fingers against the gray table erratically, "I like Frank! Who doesn't like Frank? You'd have to be blind and an idiot not to." The raven haired witch said in a tone that tried to make Alice feel small and stupid and partly succeeded. It was the same tone that Val liked to use on them when they were being exceptionally thick or so she thought. It grated on every one of Alice's nerves to hear it now. She even saw her absentee friend stop writing to look up at Lori with a raised eyebrow.

Lori flushed under Gwen's glaze and said in a greatly exaggerated tone, as if being pleasant to Alice was a hardship, "He's really nice, you know, he once tutored me in Herbology and Potions for three hours for our finals last term. He even helped me with some of my summer work. Yeah, he's not the most hip guy out there but he's not immature like some of the other ones at school. I can't believe you don't want to date him."

Alice shrugged apprehensively, perhaps she had been a little too hasty in rejecting Frank's advances, but it wasn't like he gave her time to consider or the option to think things over. No, he just asked her straight out and expected a 'yes'. Alice hadn't said yes or no. She wasn't even able to give him a proper response before he fled the scene. Now her stalker was constantly on her mind. She worried mostly that Frank wouldn't come back to the ice-cream shop. Did this mean she liked him?

No, she was positive that she didn't have feelings for him like that. It didn't quite fit but there was something. It was just that, even though it had only been a few days since _that_ night, she could already feel his absence. Frank was always so willing to help her around the shop, carrying large boxes to the storage room to cleaning up ice-cream stained tables. If he came before or during lunch, he always brought food from Bertie's, an expensive sandwich shop in the Alley that Alice loved.

Lori was right. Frank wasn't like the other boys in the school. He was kind, helpful and considerate. He was ridiculously nice and she had been so rude to him. He did so much for her at the shop and he didn't even work there. She desperately hoped he would forget all about Wednesday night and her despicable behavior.

"You think I should've said yes?" Alice asked in a small voice.

Lori made a face and then said, "Maybe." Lori gave a disdainful look at her grungy ice cream stained dress and sweaty hair. Alice self-consciously ran a hand through her hair and wondered if she should've asked her mother do a quick cleaning spell in her hair before she left. Did it really look that bad? "I don't know. I just never would have thought that you would be his type."

"What? And you think you are?" She replied back in a mocking tone before her brain could catch up with her mouth. Lori looked across the table in surprise. Alice is shocked too. She hadn't meant for it come out that way. She hadn't meant to say it all. She wants to tell her that but Lori answers before she can even get a syllable out.

"Yeah, I do actually. I think I'm a lot more suited for Frank than you are. I may not be pure blooded like you are, and therefore his social equal," she said rolling her eyes and running a pale hand shakily through her raven colored hair, "but at least I don't go around looking like Oliver Twist."

For a moment Alice is completely dumbfounded by Lori's comment. She doesn't know who Oliver Twist is but judging from the nasty smile dancing on Lori's lips and the disgusted look the witch gave her hair and dress earlier, it's not difficult for Alice to connect the dots.

She thinks she can play off her humiliation if she avoids looking at her Lori's chubby self-satisfied face and if she can keep the burning of her cheeks under control, then she can live through this.

But then she hears a strangled laugh escape from Gwen and her head involuntarily snaps over to the brown haired witch. Her hand is covering her mouth as if the laugh slipped out, like it was an accident, but Alice can see the mirth lurking behind her best friend's eyes and she loses that last strand of control.

There isn't a single part of her face that isn't burning now. She looks down at her lap so that her friends won't see her face as she struggles not to cry.

"Crap! Allie, I'm sorry," Gwen tells her and tries to rub her arm consolingly but Alice moves away from the hand and snatches up her purse and digs through it for some of her muggle money. "Come on Lori, say sorry!" She hears Gwen orders, but Lori remains quiet, and Alice doesn't dare to look at the witch.

She's too busy searching in her bag for muggle money that she knows she doesn't have. She forgot to exchange some of her wizarding money to muggle after she left the shop. After a few seconds of watching her, Gwen seems to catch on to Alice's dilemma.

"Allie, I'll pay for your milkshake. No worries." But Alice will be damned if she looks like the poor friend as well as the wretched hag. So she throws a galleon down on to the table which she knows is way too much but she doesn't care right now. The only thing she's interested in doing is leaving. She spins around and leaves before she can be humiliated anymore.

 **Author's note:** I'm extremely sorry that this update took so long! Bare in mind that I'm a procrastinator and if I don't have a deadline or people breathing down my neck then things tend to get down- well - whenever feel like it. Yesterday I was in the mood to write this story and then tada! A new chapter was created! :D I hope you guys stick around for the next chapter...but full disclosure- I'm not a reliable fanfiction author :/


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